Tag Archives: Drake Passage

January 8, 2017 · 6:23 pm

Return across Drake Passage

6th & 7th January 2017

It’s all ahead of us now – Drake Passage, that is

I opted for anti seasickness tablets rather than the patch for the return trip across the Drake at Jelte’s bar-side medical dispensary, and happy I did. I wasn’t sick and or overcome with tiredness and thoroughly enjoyed the crossing.

Yay, no wakeup call!!!

The first night was gentle,the following day saw a fair amount of staggering, we had up to about 5 metre waves, although this is apparently classed as Drake Lake! Between meals there were talks by the guides and a movie.

Is this first time I’ve got a bird in a pic!!! Nah not really…..

I thoroughly enjoyed Christophe’s talk about Amundsen and the race to the north pole. This brought back memories of my first visit to Hobart when we stayed at Hadleys Hotel and were in the Amundsen Suite. Bruce gave a hugely enthusiastic talk on seabirds and why they are so cool, he even managed to stir interest in me, who is so not into birds.

Our daily briefing was more about what was to come – paying our bar bill and disembarkation, rather than the exciting plans we’ve had on past days. I was very proud of myself today, no naps and appeared at every meal, yay.

The most wave action I’ve seen from my cabin

Second night and day on the Drake was much the same, with more talks by Lousie about Shakleton and Marijke on whales and her time spent with the Australian Antarctic Division. Those of us who weren’t sick or sleeping spent most of our time in the lounge or up on the bridge deck, hopefully not annoying the Captain and crew, who were always very welcoming and happy to answer questions or just have a chat.

Diego Ramirez Islands

A surprise for all came when Andrew advised we were at the Diego Ramirez group of islands and had permission from the Argentine naval base there to sail within 3 miles. This is another rare treat, being the most southern land of South America, and was great for the bird lovers spotting albatross and petrels galore.

Returning boots and paying our bills kept us busy for a while then another treat, we headed up and around Cape Horn on the way home. Andrew told us later there’s an old mariners tradition that says sailing around Cape Horn entitles you to wear a gold coin earring, not sure if this extends to motorized ships!

And again – no wakeup call……

Cape Horn on the way back to Ushuaia

Still pretty calm, even if we are all leaning to the side!

Our last briefing that night was wonderful, there was a fantastic 10 minute slide presentation, farewell drink and toast by our Captain who also told us he hadn’t been able to get that close to Diego Ramirez for about 5 years. We’re so fortunate to have had such good weather and a company who are happy to go the extra mile.

One of my fave spots on Plancius to watch the world go by

Just loved watching the blues of the water

Patches of blue during the Drake crossing

Drake lake

Our stops on the map!

Almost there, well one more night…

More food!! Our last dinner was awesome, as always and afterwards the other staff were paraded to our joy. The chefs, cooks, baker and stewards were grinning from ear to ear at our applause. It’s such a happy ship, I’ve had the time of my life.

After dinner we congregated in the lounge for a night of story-telling, reliving the voyage and generally lots of laughs. Next morning after breakfast it was last minute packing and then all of a sudden Andrew announced the Argentine authorities had cleared us to disembark and it was all over bar the goodbyes! I have a day in Ushuaia waiting for my flight to Buenos Aires where I have another few days before heading home, bring it on!

I can truly say I’ve had the most wonderful 12 days on this voyage. Antarctica and everything about it was mind-blowingly beautiful – I certainly don’t have the words to describe it and my photos don’t do it anywhere near enough justice. The ship crew and expedition staff were the absolute best and I found heaps of fellow passengers who I just fitted with, probably no surprise when you consider this is not your everyday trip.

I can’t recommend Oceanwide Expeditions highly enough and I just loved the mv Plancius! I’d better add here that I’m in no way being or have been reimbursed for these posts, sadly ; my praise is purely my unbiased opinion.

Lunch menu – kicking myself I didn’t take a pic every day!

Dinner menu of the same day – and they say it’s not a luxury ship!

I wasn’t the only one taking pics of dinner on the last night!

Along with the cabin staff and Johnny & Katie, hotel manager & assistant

Our lovely Russian bear – the Captain

Expedition crew members on our last night

Nacho in one of his special jackets!

Nacho entertaining with his party tricks!

Pack of my trusty hand warmers I left for someone else

Bye bye cabin

Looks cold back in Ushuaia!

Back to civilization, doh!

And goodbyes to our amazing expedition staff

Goodbye to mv Plancius, a lovely ship

National Geographic ship at Ushuaia

All shapes and sizes

Doesn’t seem like 12 days ago since I walked along here!

Seems we all want a slice of Antarctica

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Filed under Antarctica, Mid-life travel, Solo female travel, Travel

Tagged as Antarctica, Cape Horn, Diego Ramirez Islands, Drake Passage, mv Plancius, Oceanwide Expeditions

December 30, 2016 · 10:20 pm

Crossing Drake Passage for the first time!

29th and 30th December 2016

Dr Jelte’s patch kept any sickness at bay for the crossing, but made me incredibly sleepy. I didn’t make it to even one meal on the first day and only briefly to lunch and dinner on the second, although I only ate a few bites before heading off again. Poor Marijke told me later she was getting quite worried that I’d never get going. She was really lovely, checking on me and even brought in chamomile tea and biscuits on the first day. I did get up briefly, but really the first day was a write-off. I wasn’t the only one though, the ship was almost deserted apparently and the dining room seemed vast with only a few hardy souls showing up for meals.

Second day was slightly better, we had to attend a mandatory IAATO briefing in the morning on dos and don’ts of Antarctica followed by a visit to the boot room to collect our high waterproof boots. Later in the day was vacuuming, yes vacuuming! We had to take all our outer clothing to the lounge and vacuum it all. This is to minimize the risk of introducing foreign plant and pest material in an attempt to keep Antarctica as free from our contamination as possible. After seeing this place for myself, I was more than happy to do whatever was required to keep it safe.

One lonely photo of first Drake Crossing

I missed some great talks during these 2 days, from Andrew on the Antarctic convergence, Bruce the photography guy and Louise the kayaking guide who are also very knowledgable on birds, Mal, one of the mountaineers, and Marijke on penguins. The biggest disappointment was to find I’d missed some really great whale action as well. There were around 30 whales, maybe more, spread out across the ocean; for about 45 minutes they were bubble net feeding, showing their tail flukes and even half-breaching. Such a shame, but I’m sure there’ll be more as the days go by.

My lack of photos on these 2 days tell the story better than anything else, only one taken for 2 days!!!

Ready and waiting to go to Antarctica!

28th December 2016

Ushuaia, looking towards port

Well, it’s finally here, embarkation day! We can’t present for boarding until 4pm and I had to leave the comfort of Hosteria Patagonia Jarke by 10 in the morning. Oh well, I got to see lots of Ushuaia’s streets and cafes and found gifts for family and friends, if nothing else. I was heading to the museum but a heavy downpour and having left my jacket at the drop-off point put an end to that plan, so back to more coffee and sketching until it was time to go.

Heading to Plancius, Ushuaia port

I met my first fellow passenger at the port, a lovely English woman travelling with her husband and 3 adult children. They have lived in the US for the last 18 years and were a lovely family, we caught up often the boat.

At the gangway, the expedition staff were waiting to greet us and I met my roommate, Marijke, who is a marine mammal specialist. Apparently it’s quite unusual for staff and guides to share, however, the numbers and gender mix colluded to give me this lovely present. We were sent to meet the hotel manager and his assistant, Johnny and Katie, given our cabin allocation, and shown the way by one of the house staff, lovely Filipino girls.

Home for 12 nights!

A little while later it was time for the first of many briefings in the lounge area on Deck 5, safety and lifeboat briefing first. Next we head back to our cabins to don warm clothes and take our life jackets back with us to try and get them on and secure. Just more than 100 newbies every trip, we must make the staff laugh, an absolute shamozzle, with arms and life jackets going in every direction while we work it out. After we were safely jacketed, it was roll call, which again, hopefully we can perform better if there is a real need. The fact we have a group of 50 Chinese passengers, most of whom don’t speak English, was an added bonus to the hilarity. Poor Dutch Johnny did his best but some of the names really had him in a twist at times.

Lifeboat on Plancius

Off outside to the lifeboat deck next where one of the ships officers, Gavin, with a great Scottish accent, scared the pants off us with graphic descriptions of what would happen if we had to abandon ship to the lifeboats. 63 people per lifeboat, the need to sit on your defined black strip so we could all fit, no food or drink for 24 hours and mandatory seasickness medication was just the tip of the iceberg. All I could think was, it’s a good thing the mv Plancius is a nice dependable ship! A quick look inside the bright orange life saving vessels and we could escape the howling cold wind and go back to our cabins to untangle ourselves from the life jackets and extra warm clothes then head back to the lounge.

Johnny then gave us a rundown of life on board from his perspective, meal and bar times, internet access, all the usual things. Andrew Bishop, our Australian expedition leader was up next to introduce the expedition staff and give an insight to our daily program during the voyage. The ship’s doctor, Jelte from the Netherlands, had his turn next and advised he would set up shop in the bar after dinner to dispense the famous ‘behind the ear patch’ or tablets to those who thought they might need them. Then the most important man on the boat, Captain Evgeny Levakov joined us for an introduction and a toast with Proseco to a good trip.

Leaving Ushuaia behind

Dinner followed all this activity in the dining room on Deck 3, wow, the food was delicious, the staff were fantastic and conversations that started off quietly this night got louder every night after. Rather than risk being seasick I headed up to the bar and bought one of the patches, had a chat for a while, wandered outside for a few pics and went to bed before we entered the dreaded Drake Passage. During the night though, I started sliding up and down the length of my bed, the weirdest feeling ever. Apparently, the waves were coming from the side of the ship so she was rolling from side to side more than up and down.